“Sankranti is the happiest and busiest time for our family. We’ve been making kites in Dhoolpet for more than a hundred years now. My grandfather started this craft, and we’ve carried it forward just the way he taught us.

As the festival approaches, Dhoolpet slowly turns colourful. Stacks of paper line the shops, rolls of manja dry outside homes, and bundles of thin bamboo sticks — the teelis that form the kite’s frame — are cut and shaped in almost every lane. Families walk through these streets comparing colours and patterns. Majority of the customers look for the lighter paper kites that fly smoothly even in a soft breeze.

Everything we make is handmade. Paper comes from Kolkata, bamboo from Assam, but the real shape and balance are done by hand in our workshop here. We make kites from ₹2 to ₹200 so everyone can enjoy the festival. Many people around us shifted to other work over the years, but we stayed because this craft feels like home.

This year has been one of our best. Orders doubled, customers returned with more excitement, and new people came looking for Dhoolpet designs. But the real joy is Sankranti morning — when we step outside and see the Hyderabad sky filled with kites. We try to spot the ones we made, flying from Old City to the far side of the city.

In that moment, it feels like this old craft still has a place, and our family’s story is still floating in the sky.”